Tao Te Ching
Richie Lomba
John Kennedy
1917 – 1963 CE
Modern America's most popular president
Journalist, politician, and one of the most respected US presidents of all time; Kennedy inspired a generation and holds the highest presidential average approval rating of 70%—the highest of any president in Gallup's entire history of measuring job approval. He is the only Roman Catholic ever elected president, the youngest person to be elected president, and the second-youngest to serve as president. His book Profiles in Courage, written during his years in the Senate, won a Pulitzer Prize. He established the Peace Corps, supported the civil rights movement, proposed the Civil Rights and the Revenue Acts that were passed after his assassination. He approved the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion but rejected Operation Northwoods, a Joint Chiefs plan to fabricate a false attack to get public support for a war against Cuba as well as successfully navigating the Cuban Missile Crisis. He increased the US presence in Vietnam but—according to Defense Secretary McNama—was strongly considering pulling the US completely out: a position his successor, Lyndon Johnson strongly disagreed with. He began a program called the "New Frontier" to provide federal funding for education, free elderly medical care, aid for poor rural areas, and the ending of racial discrimination; but, these efforts were cut short when he was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald.
Eras
Unlisted Sources
Message to Congress, 1961
Profiles in Courage
Profiles in Courage, 1956
Public Papers
Speech (1963)
Quotes by John Kennedy (24 quotes)
“Economic growth without social progress lets the great majority of the people remain in poverty while a privileged few reap the benefits of rising abundance.”
from Message to Congress, 1961
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“A man does what he must — in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers, and pressures — and that is the basis of all human morality.”
from Profiles in Courage
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“A man does what he must — in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers, and pressures — and that is the basis of all human morality.”
from Profiles in Courage
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“For, in the final analysis, our most common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal.”
from Profiles in Courage
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“In whatever arena of life one may meet the challenge of courage, whatever may be the sacrifices he faces if he follow his conscience - the loss of his friends, his fortune, his contentment, even the esteem of his fellow men - each man must decide for himself the course he will follow. The stories of past courage can define that ingredient - they can teach, they can offer hope, they provide inspiration. But they cannot supply courage itself. For this each man must look into his own soul.”
from Profiles in Courage
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“Only the strength and progress and peaceful change that come from independent judgment and individual ideas—and even from the unorthodox and the eccentric—can enable us to surpass that foreign ideology that fears free thought more than it fears hydrogen bombs… We can compromise our political positions, but not ourselves.”
from Profiles in Courage
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“It is when the politician loves neither the public good nor himself, or when his love for himself is limited and is satisfied by the trappings of office, that the public interest is badly served.”
from Profiles in Courage
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“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”
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“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”
from Public Papers
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“A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but ideas live on.”
from Public Papers
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“The true democracy, living and growing and inspiring, puts its faith in the people—faith that the people will not simply elect men who will represent their views ably and faithfully, but will also elect men who will exercise their conscientious judgment—faith that the people will not condemn those whose devotion to principle leads them to unpopular courses, but will reward courage, respect honor, and ultimately recognize right.”
from Profiles in Courage, 1956
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“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.”
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“Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.”
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“The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.”
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“Too often we... enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
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“Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.”
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“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things. Not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
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“The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word 'crisis.' One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger—but recognize the opportunity.”
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“What would Lincoln have been without the Civil War? Just another railroad lawyer!”
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“Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.”
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“The mere absence of war is not peace... Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.”
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“The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.”
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“If we cannot end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.”
from Speech (1963)
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“Mankind must put an end to war—or war will put an end to mankind.”
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Quotes about John Kennedy (2 quotes)
“When Kennedy took office in early 1961, he continued the policies of Truman and Eisenhower in SE Asia. Almost immediately, he approved a secret plan for various military actions in Vietnam and Laos.”
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“In the 1700s, politics was all about ideas. But Jefferson came up with all the good ideas. In the 1800s, it was all about character. but no one will ever have as much character as Lincoln and Lee. For much of the 1900s it was about charisma. But we no longer trust charisma because Hitler used it to kill Jews and JFK used it to get laid and send us to Vietnam.”
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